Tuesday, August 30, 2011

HIV Scare Shuts Down LA Porn Industry

LA's porn industry ground to a halt this week as news broke out that an anonymous adult film actor has tested positive for HIV. While there is no doubt that studios will once again start churning out the smut (it is, after all, one of California's more lucrative businesses), the news of the actor's infection has raised new fears, and new questions, on how to control HIV infections in one of our seedier (and one of my favorite) industries.

What system is in place now? A database exists which notifies agents if an actor is available to work or not, protecting the individual from leaks on his or her HIV status. Many would say that this is just not enough.

AIM officials were attacked for insisting that the database could protect performers from HIV, so condoms were unnecessary. Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said this latest incident proves that condoms must be used, and those who say the database is enough show, "outrageous disregard for the health and safety of performers and the community at large."

Weinstein is right: if condoms were unnecessary to prevent the spread of HIV, LA would have kept churning out gangbang flicks yesterday instead of shutting down in a panic. As yet, it's uncertain that any magic HIV prevention pill will ever become science fact, so the best way for sexually active adults to prevent HIV transmission is to wear condoms, however much that spoils your sweaty self-love viewing pleasure.

It would behoove porn actors to begin insisting on condom use. Just ask Mason Wyler. He's a perfectly healthy (and hot) dude who can't find work fucking on camera. Why? Because he contracted HIV. No-one will hire him.